Julia Louis-Dreyfus says her cancer battle has made her more environmentally conscious.
The ‘Veep’ star survived a stage two breast cancer diagnosis in 2017, and has said facing a "near-death experience" has made her re-think how she spends her "remaining time on this planet".
She said: "I never thought I was immortal, but you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the end of your life. But once you’ve faced a near-death experience like that, you do begin to realise that, at some point, you’re going to be out of here. We all are. So, how best to spend my remaining time on this planet?"
Julia says her cancer battle has inspired her to do more to help preserve the planet for her sons Henry, 28, and Charlie, 23.
Last year, the 59-year-old actress joined the Board of Trustees at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and has said she’s keen to make sure future generations don’t have a "burden" to bear when it comes to the environment.
She added: "I’m keenly aware of the burden that my children will have, and their children will have, if this challenge doesn’t get met. I see it as my responsibility to try and right this ship. My life will be well-spent doing that."
Julia first got involved in environmental activism when her sons were young, but didn’t take things seriously until recently.
The ‘Seinfeld’ star explained: "I had kids, and I wanted to take them to the beach. They’d just go down and play for an hour and a half. But there was a beach closure, and I thought to myself, ‘That can’t be right. They close the beach because of pollution?’ It was happening in my own backyard."
And after learning from scientists and experts on the topic, Julia is convinced people can reverse the effects of climate change.
Speaking to People magazine’s first-ever Earth Day issue, she said: "The American people are go-getters. When there’s a problem, they roll up their sleeves. No matter what party you’re in, we all want to leave a clean and better planet for our children and our children’s children."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ cancer battle made her environmentally conscious
